2ND TEEN GUILTY IN CROSS-BURNING INCIDENT

On the heels of his longtime friend, a second teen-ager pleaded guilty Friday to burning a cross in an elderly black woman's yard in Portsmouth in March.

Tony Ray Riddle, 19, of Portsmouth appeared in U.S. District Court on Friday and admitted helping Jason Edward Combs set fire to a three-foot cross at Aline V. Burkett's home in the Highland Park section of Portsmouth.

Riddle, a roofer, was to stand trial Monday on four counts of violating Burkett's civil rights, intimidating her and using fire in commission of a felony. Riddle changed his plea after Combs agreed to cooperate with federal investigators and possibly testify against Riddle.

In a hearing that was a repeat of Combs' on Thursday, Riddle admitted to U.S. District Judge J. Calvitt Clarke Jr. he conspired with Combs to burn the cross. In return for his guilty plea, prosecutors asked the remaining three counts against him be dropped.

He will be sentenced with Combs on Oct. 12. Both face up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 fines.

Federal prosecutor Alan W. Tieger said Riddle helped burn the cross, but it was Combs who wrote a note with a misspelled racial slur that was wrapped around a rock and thrown threw Burkett's window.